“Church is with the people”
Zelensky criticizes Pope’s statement about “white flag”
March 10, 2024, 11:09 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
President Zelenskyj and his Foreign Minister Kuleba react to Pope Francis’ “white flag” statement – with clear criticism. Kuleba also points out parallels to the actions of the church in “the first half of the twentieth century.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sharply rejected Pope Francis’ misleading appeal for peace negotiations with Russia. The church is with the people, said Zelenskyj in his evening video address. “And not two and a half thousand kilometers away, somewhere, to virtually mediate between someone who wants to live and someone who wants to destroy you.”
“When Russian evil started this war on February 24, all Ukrainians stood up to defend themselves. Christians, Muslims, Jews – everyone,” Zelensky said. And he thanks every Ukrainian clergyman who is in the army, in the Defense Forces. They are on the front line, they protect life and humanity, they support with prayers, conversations and actions. “That’s what the church is – with the people.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also commented on the Pope’s statement. “Our flag is yellow and blue,” Kuleba wrote on X, referring to the colors of the national flag. “This is the flag under which we live, die and win. We will never fly another flag.”
Kuleba criticizes the Catholic Church
Foreign Minister Kuleba also pointed out allegations on X that Pope Pius XII. failed to take action against the Nazi tyranny in the Second World War. “At the same time, we know the Vatican’s strategy from the first half of the twentieth century when it comes to the white flag,” he wrote. “I urge (the Vatican) not to repeat the mistakes of the past and to support Ukraine and its people in their just fight for their lives.”
The pontiff had sparked massive opposition with a misleading appeal for peace negotiations in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The statements by the head of the Catholic Church were understood in Ukraine and by many of her supporters as a one-sided appeal to Kiev alone – and by some even as a call for surrender. In an interview published on Swiss television at the weekend, the 87-year-old also used the word about the “white flag” – in times of war for centuries, the sign of surrender, i.e. surrender without a fight against the enemy troops, with a view to the difficulties faced by the Ukrainian army.